Tape printing apparatus

Abstract

There is provided a tape printing apparatus for printing desired character string data on a tapelike printing object, in which a plurality of functions can be set with a single physical operator. When a character size setting function key is operated (S 14 ), the position of a cursor existing on a display screen is detected. The character size is set over the whole sentence (S 24 ) if the cursor is positioned on the right side of a line head mark, set by paragraph (S 23 ) if the cursor is positioned at the head of the first line of each paragraph, and set by line (S 22 ) if the cursor is positioned on the right side of the head of a line of each paragraph. In other cases, the size of characters from the cursor on is set or the character size is set word by word (S 20, 21 ).

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. A method of printing information on a tape, the method comprising the steps of: 
       inputting print data;  
       displaying said print data;  
       indicating a position of said input data;  
       setting a character attribute of said print data; and  
       changing an object area in which the attribute is to be set according to the position of said input data at the time when the character attribute is set.  
     
     
       2. A method of printing information on a tape by a print head, the method comprising: 
       inputting a sentence to be printed onto the tape by a keyboard;  
       displaying the inputted sentence on a display;  
       moving a cursor on the display to various positions within the sentence;  
       setting a character attribute by a function key; and  
       assigning the character attribute set by the function key to selected characters within the sentence as a function of the position of the cursor on the display.  
     
     
       3. A method of printing information on a tape-like printing medium, the method comprising the steps of: 
       inputting print data;  
       displaying said print data;  
       indicating the position of said input data;  
       setting a character attribute of said print data; and  
       determining an object area in which the attribute is to be set according to the position of said input data at the time when the character attribute is set.  
     
     
       4. A tape printing apparatus comprising: 
       input means for inputting print data representative of at least one character and control data relative to an attribute of the print data;  
       display means for displaying the print data input by the input means;  
       position specifying means for indicating a position of the print data displayed by the display means and outputting position data representative of the position of the print data;  
       attribute setting means, responsive to the control data provided by the input means and the position data provided by the position specifying means, for determining an object area in which an attribute of the print data is to be set in at least a portion of the print data and assigning the attribute to the print data within the object area; and  
       printer means for printing the input print data on a tape-like printing medium according to the attribute set by the attribute setting means,  
       wherein when the position specifying means specifies a position in the print data displayed by the display means to thereby define a first area before the position and a second area after the position, the attribute setting means determines the second area as an object area and changes the size of at least one character contained in the second area.  
     
     
       5. A tape printing apparatus comprising: 
       input means for inputting print data representative of at least one character and control data relative to an attribute of the print data;  
       display means for displaying the print data input by the input means;  
       position specifying means for indicating a position of the print data displayed by the display means and outputting position data representative of the position of the print data;  
       attribute setting means, responsive to the control data provided by the input means and the position data provided by the position specifying means, for determining an object area in which an attribute of the print data is to be set in at least a portion of the print data and assigning the attribute to the print data within the object area; and  
       printer means for printing the input print data on a tape-like printing medium according to the attribute set by the attribute setting means,  
       wherein the print data is representative of a paragraph having a plurality of lines containing a plurality of words, and when the position specifying means specifies a head of the paragraph, the attribute setting means determines the paragraph as an object area and changes the size of the words in a unit of one line.  
     
     
       6. A tape printing apparatus according to claim  5 , wherein when the position specifying means specifies a position other than the head of the paragraph, the attribute setting means determines an area in the paragraph after the position as an object area and changes the size of the words in the object area in a unit of one line. 
     
     
       7. A tape printing apparatus comprising: 
       input means for inputting print data representative of at least one character and control data relative to an attribute of the print data;  
       display means for displaying the print data input by the input means;  
       position specifying means for indicating a position of the print data displayed by the display means and outputting position data representative of the position of the print data;  
       attribute setting means, responsive to the control data provided by the input means and the position data provided by the position specifying means, for determining an object area in which an attribute of the print data is to be set in at least a portion of the print data and assigning the attribute to the print data within the object area; and  
       printer means for printing the input print data on a tape-like printing medium according to the attribute set by the attribute setting means,  
       wherein when the position specifying means specifies a position in the print data displayed by the display means to thereby define a first area before the position and a second area after the position, the attribute setting means determines the second area as an object area and changes character ornament of at least one character contained in the second area.  
     
     
       8. A tape printing apparatus comprising: 
       input means for inputting print data representative of at least one character and control data relative to an attribute of the print data;  
       display means for displaying the print data input by the input means;  
       position specifying means for indicating a position of the print data displayed by the display means and outputting position data representative of the position of the print data;  
       attribute setting means, responsive to the control data provided by the input means and the position data provided by the position specifying means, for determining an object area in which an attribute of the print data is to be set in at least a portion of the print data and assigning the attribute to the print data within the object area; and  
       printer means for printing the input print data on a tape-like printing medium according to the attribute assigned by the attribute setting means.  
     
     
       9. A tape printing apparatus according to claim  8 , wherein the print data is representative of a text, the text including at least one paragraph having a plurality of lines containing a plurality of words, and when the position specifying means specifies a position in the print data displayed by the display means, the attribute setting means selectively determines one of the following areas as the object area: 
       a) at least one of the words contained in an area after the position;  
       b) one of the plurality of lines including the position;  
       c) the at least one paragraph; and  
       d) the text.  
     
     
       10. A method of setting character attribute of print data in a tape printing apparatus, the method comprising: 
       indicating a position of the print data displayed by display means; and  
       in response to the indication of the position, determining an object area in which an attribute of the print data is to be set in at least a portion of the print data, and assigning the attribute to the print data within the object area.  
     
     
       11. A method of printing on a tape-like printing medium, the method comprising the steps of: 
       inputting print data representative of at least one character and control data relative to an attribute of the print data;  
       displaying the input print data;  
       indicating a position of the displayed print data and outputting position data representative of the position of the print data;  
       responsive to the control data and the position data, determining an object area in which an attribute of the print data is to be set in at least a portion of the print data and assigning the attribute to the print data within the object area; and  
       printing the input print data on a tape-like printing medium according to the assigned attribute;  
       wherein when the position data is indicative of a specified position to thereby define a first area before the position and a second area after the position, the second area is determined as an object area; and  
       changing the size of at least one character contained in the second area.  
     
     
       12. A method of printing on a tape-like printing medium, the method comprising: 
       inputting print data representative of at least one character and control data relative to an attribute of the print data;  
       displaying the input print data;  
       indicating a position of the displayed print data and outputting position data representative of the position of the print data;  
       responsive to the control data and the position data, determining an object area in which an attribute of the print data is to be set in at least a portion of the print data and assigning the attribute to the print data within the object area; and  
       printing the input print data on a tape-like printing medium according to the assigned attribute.  
     
     
       13. A method according to claim  12 , wherein the print data is representative of a text, the text including at least one paragraph having a plurality of lines containing a plurality of words, and when a position is specified in the displayed print data, one of the following areas is selectively determined as the object area: 
       a) at least one of the words contained in an area after the position;  
       b) one of the plurality of lines including the position;  
       c) the at least one paragraph; and  
       d) the text.